Lithgow

While Trevor was packing up the van this morning, the kids got to play with their other ‘fantastic parent’ (see yesterday’s post!). We were camping next to an old creek bed and we imagined we were fossicking for gold. Max and Harry had made a cubby in the creek banks the night before and loved being able to get me to climb inside. They then showed me how they used rock ‘knives’ to chip away at the rocks in the walls. They put a play on for me to show how they discovered the cubby and then explained the many uses of rock. What fun!! What awesome kids!!


Once on the road we did a ‘Leyland Brothers’ trip, travelling all over the countryside, avoiding main roads. We went to the town of Sofola, esatablished in 1851 and in it’s peak had over 25 000 residents. At the entrance to the town they have a battery stamper on display which was used 24 hours a day in the past to stamp on rocks, breaking them open to see if they contained gold.

At the thimble buckets. The battery stamper is in the background.

Imagine living in a town like "Hill End or Sofola and having machines like this in operation 24 hours a day! A plaque told us that of every square yard of earth, two grains of gold were extracted during gold mining. That just seems like such a miniscule amount of gold to find for all the heavy, manual, dirty work that took place.


We drove from Sofola to Meadow Flat and then onto Lithgow along the highway. The drive from Sofola felt like we were back in the Victorian Otways, with lots of hairpin bends and so many hills to get through.


Today I rediscovered Trevor’s skills in speaking Cowlish when he got wayward cows away from the car by telling them in a deep voice to ‘mooooooove’.


We made it to Lithgow this afternoon and found a terrific bakery on the main street. We usually have lunch made from supplies in the back of the car but found Max and Harry had already eaten our remaining bread when we stopped to eat. They must be growing again as they eat far more than Trevor or me at the moment. We had the choice of Subway or McDonalds, but instead chose the bakery. Trevor and I have philosophically like to support local businesses instead of spending money at multinationals. Sometimes we get stung by this choice (see post about Port Kenny pizza in South Australia) but this time it was a great choice! A delicious meal for around $20 with fantastic service! A real win-win, as we had a great experience and it was a few extra $$ to a local business.